lonely hearts
by kkandhw
Summary: in which a powerful Hufflepuff and a powerful Slytherin clash together in the loveliest of ways. oc x tmr
1. one

"Please, Cherise, this is important," Chiron of Camp-Half Blood pleaded over the IM call, his hooves stomping the floor lightly in worry. His tail was swishing from behind him, and his fingers were risen to his shirt to play with the buttons. Cherise almost felt bad, but she knew that she deserved to be away from all of this.

"No, Chiron. I'm done doing missions and quests, I've been done. I've been blessed with protection from the creatures my father created; there's no need to for me to return to battle them."

At this moment in time, Cherise was supposed to be doing chores. Headmistress Norse assigned her with many tasks to do, and Cherise wasn't sure she would be able to finish them all in time. Especially with Chiron calling her now.

The orphanage that Cherise was sent to was pleasant enough, and could be found on the outskirts of London, away from noise and people. Cherise preferred it that way, and with Zeus helping her out, despite being the daughter of his younger brother, Hades, he was alright with her. Hades on the other hand, was forbidden to see her, and Zeus had never explained why.

"Not even for the protection of the camp?" Chiron asked, and Cherise glared at the misty image of the centaur.

"Protection for the very people who abused me? You must be joking, Chiron," she says, starting her chores up again. The old broom was in her hands, and she had the task of sweeping the kitchen, living room, dining room and the halls. Laundry was in the washing machine, some of it in the process of drying, so she would have to come back to that. Dishes needed to be put away and the living room needed to be straightened.

Her ex-camp leader frowned at her, and Cherise knew he felt regret for everything his campers did when she was younger. Hades had sent her to Camp Half-Blood in hopes that Cherise would be helped with her magic, but they'd only worsened. Now, Cherise refuses to use her godly magic, but no one seemed to realize that Cherise never wanted to use them again.

When Cherise turned eleven, two years after she'd begun living at the orphanage, she'd received a strange letter from a school called Hogwarts. They'd informed her that she was a witch and that there were schools designed for kids like her. At first, she believed it to be a kind of just desert that had been dished to her by the other children, but she had been proved wrong when one Albus Dumbledore came to her to help her collect her school supplies. Old Norse was happy to rid of Cherise for her school years, and wouldn't even come to pick her up at the station. She was always sour when Cherise came back for the summer months, and gradually became happier as her school days approached.

Thankfully, Cherise's seventh year of school starts up in three days, and Cherise had already bought her supplies from Diagon Alley. She'd snuck out during the night to purchase everything, and even managed to treat herself to more books and nicer ink this year. With the Olympian vault money, Cherise could buy all of Diagon Alley and still have too much. Every time she entered Gringotts, though, the Goblins would stare at her, some would even bow, and treat her like she was a god herself. It made her feel uncomfortable; she wasn't a god, only the daughter of one. She still had some human in her.

When she realized that Chiron had gone silent, she looked at the misty image again. He was staring at something behind the watery image of her, probably Dionysus, and she rolled her eyes. He can't even maintain conversation, she thought as she waved her hand and the mist disappeared.

She returned to her chores, thinking of what her seventh year would be like.

~*~

Cherise apparated from the orphanage at eight o'clock on September first, and stood on the pavement of a random road with her trunk next to her and a bag draped over her shoulder. Without pulling out her wand she charmed her trunk to shrink, and she wrapped the small rectangular prism in a rubber band so nothing would fall out before sticking it in her bag.

She raised her wand hand, her right-hand, and in only a few seconds wind whipped at her dark hair and skin and harsh braking echoed in her ears. The Knight Bus, which she had just summoned, stood in all its glory, and Cherise could vaguely see the small head hanging from the ceiling that conversed with the driver, a scraggly-toothed old man with long, knotted white hair.

The doors to the bus screeched open, and the attendant, which was a tall, lanky man with brown hair and some type of uniform, smiled at her.

"Good Morning, and welcome to the Knight Bus! Eleven sickles please!" the man greeted, and held out a bag which Cherise dropped eleven silver coins into. He stepped aside and Cherise walked up the stairs to the triple-decker bus and plopped down into the first seat she found. As usual, the Knight Bus was barren, and most of its residents resided on the second and third floor.

"Destination?" the man asked. After seven years of riding on this bus to King's Cross, Cherise had never thought to learn his name.

"King's Cross Station, please," she said in a quiet voice, and the man gave her a nod. He knocked on the window and shouted at the driver where to go. They were off in less than a second, and Cherise sat silently for half an hour before they'd finally made it.

"Alright, girly! We're here!" the attendant called, and Cherise stood after the bus came to a stop outside of the entrance. Cherise grasped her ticket, which she pulled from her bag only seconds prior, and walked out with a 'thank you'.

She didn't turn to watch the bus go, and walked ahead into the train station, passing unsuspecting, happy muggles who all looked ecstatic for the day ahead of them.


	2. two

It took her only five minutes to get to Platform Nine, and she leaned against the third column and vanished from muggle eyes and into the Hogwarts train station. At this time, there weren't many here, mainly pure-bloods and prefects, and Cherise gave her ticket to the man in the booth and boarded the train. She chose the very last compartment and sat there quietly until she heard the commotion of more people arriving, and looked out to watch the families.

Her heart hurt as she watched, but she couldn't look away from the happy faces of children with their parents. She sent a quick prayer to Zeus before the train left, and stared out the window at the Scottish landscape as it whizzed by.

During the trip, no one had come and knocked on her compartment door, only the trolley lady, who seemed to not have aged a day from Cherise's first year. Cherise had bought a few chocolate frogs to munch on, but only ended up eating one of them before the train pulled into the tracks in Hogwarts. And there were many stomps of feet as students clambered off of the train. Cherise took her time, having changed into her robes an hour earlier, and gathered her things and walked from her compartment and into the nippy air surrounding Hogwarts.

As she did every year, Cherise looked to the sky, and her godly vision allowed her to see that barrier still up and glowing in Zeus' magic. She sent her uncle a 'thank you' as she did every year, and walked toward the thestrals that carried the carriages that brought them to Hogwarts' gates. There were only the first years left, waiting to be taken to the boats that brought them to the castle, along with very few other students waiting to get a carriage.

The creatures whinnied and neighed excitedly as they saw her, as they did every year, and she laughed and began to pet them, unaware of the attention it brought her. The pure and raw death energy that radiated them gave her more life for herself, and the red eyes that they had reminded her of Cerberus back home.

Mistress, Mistress! They cried, moving toward her hands for pets and attention. She giggled at them; thestrals were her favorite creature. She patted them one last time before climbing into the carriage, and the thestrals pulling it whinnied in satisfaction at being able to pull their Mistress. She sat at the very front, as close to them as she could be. Another student climbed on with her, the only one left. The others had boarded a carriage while she was busy fawning over the dark creatures, but she didn't mind one bit.

The carriage jolted slightly as the thestrals began to walk, and Cherise gripped the rail as it moved. She was on the ground, yes, her favored territory, but at least with the train there were four walls around her. She knew the thestrals would never hurt her, but Cherise could never be sure what would pop out of the forest.

When Cherise finally looked slightly left, she almost made eye contact with the person, a boy, who'd decided to ride with her. She hadn't recognized him, but then again Cherise didn't pay much attention to the students of Hogwarts, but rather the work and keeping her magic in check. Cherise always waited for the last carriage, but she was unsure why this boy had been left behind. Cherise hid behind her black, curly locks and fisted her hands in anxiousness. Mortals made her uneasy, as well as many demigods, but she'd had a reason for that. All mortals and demigods had ever done to her was hurt her, so the anxiety she felt was justified in that sense.

Her mind went back to only yesterday when Headmistress Norse has backhanded her for putting too much salt in the eggs accidentally. One of the children had bumped into Cherise, causing the salt shaker she held to pour more than necessary into the pan of eggs, and Cherise hadn't enough time to fix the mistake. She almost flinched, but she balled her hands up more. Luckily, Cherise had chewed off her nails that morning at five because of the nervousness she felt for this year, so she hadn't had to worry about drawing blood.

That would be a problem in itself, as only one person in all of Hogwarts knows Cherise's true heritage, that being Professor Dumbledore. He'd been the one to seek Cherise out, curious to how her different magic worked together. Though Cherise had forbidden herself to use her godly powers, her witch magic was available for use and it made her feel closer to her mother.

There was a distant rumbling in the distance, and Cherise looked up to see dark storm clouds rolling in the dark night. She could smell the rain coming, and she was grateful for it. The rain was the only thing that calmed down Cherise and washed away the withdrawals she felt from not using her godly magic. She remembered praying to Zeus in her first year to make it rain much more than it usually did, and he granted her wish happily.

Cherise inhaled the air, a smile on her face as the forces of nature worked alongside her. The soft clopping from the thestrals was heard, only for her enhanced hearing catching it. The boy in the carriage with her was ignoring her as much as she was him, and she wondered what he could be thinking about with the expression he had on. She shook it off though, he wasn't her business.

More clopping was heard as the carriages all caught up with each other and the sounds of chatter from students was heard as they walked up the steps to the castle of Hogwarts. The boy exited quickly, but not before eyeing Cherise as she dropped down from the carriage herself. Cherise hadn't caught it, though, and instead turned her attention to the professor waiting for her on the steps.

Albus smiled merrily at the teenager. He was never able to see her during summer, too caught up with work and figuring out the next year's lesson plans to see her. That, coupled with the fact that the Headmistress hated Albus with every fiber of her being, and would never allow him onto her property.

"Hello, Albus! It's wonderful to see you again!" Cherise cheered as she jumped into his arms. The old man was still strong, his strength still there after many years of, well, being old. He gave a hearty laugh and set her down, the two beginning to talk about Cherise's summer. They'd entered the grand doors and paid the other students no mind as they walked towards the Great Hall. They said their goodbyes and sat in their respective places, Albus up with the teachers and Cherise with the seventh year Hufflepuffs.

There were only five seventh years in her house, as Hufflepuff always had a smaller amount of students. That meant that they were all relatively close, Cherise being the only exception. Cherise was painfully shy, and it often made others feel like she felt she was too good for them. In reality, Cherise felt they were too good for her. Cherise didn't deserve friends, and mortals scared her. Cherise was polite, though, and would speak when she was spoken to. She appreciated the effort her house-mates put into her, it made her feel wanted.

"Good evening, everyone!" a voice boomed from the podium, and Headmaster Dippet stood on a soapbox so we could see him. The old man was short, and looked like muggles expect wizards to look like. He was wrinkly, and had a long, white beard that reached his knees. His hair was always covered by his hat, and students wondered if he even had hair. He walked with a hunch in his back, and he held himself up with a swirly cane that changed color every few days. He was nice enough, but it was blatantly obvious who he loved most in this school, and that was Tom Riddle.

Cherise had never seen the supposed Tom Riddle, she was too busy trying not to be noticed. She'd heard rumors of him, though, and how he was the one who supposedly stopped the mysterious monster that killed Myrtle Warren in fifth year. Cherise knew for a fact that the creature that killed the girl was still here; she could hear the creature slither through the pipes of Hogwarts and hiss about the muggle-born students and its master. She knew she shouldn't say anything, seeing as the killings and petrification had stopped, and because of the fact that she would have to out herself as a Parseltongue, and she knew better than to do that.

Everyone called out their greetings to the man on the podium, and he gave a welcoming smile.

"It's wonderful to see everyone here for another year, and to see the new first years fresh from sorting. Before the feast begins, there will be a few announcements regarding the change in schedule chronology.

"Tomorrow morning, when you receive your schedules, you will notice that you now share classes with other houses. This has come into effect because of the feuds between houses, and we've decided to give this a try. The majority of Gryffindor classes will be with Slytherins, but there will be a few instances where Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have classes with either of the two. Do not be discouraged, this can only help you. You may begin eating, children."


	3. three

With his words, platters upon platters appear in front of the students, and the first years look around in awe. The only weird thing, though, was that Cherise was given two plates. Everyone knew what happened next, but they didn't know who it was for. Cherise piled miscellaneous foods onto the second, larger plate, and stood and walked over to the fireplace behind the Slytherin table.

She said her prayers, and threw the food into the fire. She watched as it changed color slightly, signaling to her that the sacrifice was accepted, and she sat back down, ignoring the multitude of eyes that followed her every move. As soon as the sacrificial plate hit the table, it disappeared, and Cherise was left with her smaller plate. She began eating, acting as if nothing had happened, and everyone quickly resumed also.

Her fellow seventh years all knew that this was the norm for her, having been schooled along with her. In her own houseThere were three boys and two girls in her house and year, meaning that they were all relatively close. Cherise considered only two of them, Evan and Rhian, as her real friends, but she was well acquainted with Abram, Jayce and Briar.

The boys consisted of Jayce Tyrun, Evan Frazier, and Abram Hablion. Jayce had blonde, curly hair that fell over his bright green eyes and had a muscular but small build. Evan had short red hair with one bright green eye and one brown eye and was fairly skinny. Abram, the last of the three, had sandy brown hair and blue eyes and was abnormally tall with broad shoulders and a muscular build.

The girls consisted of Rhian Hunter and Briar Thornsbury. Rhian had a bob cut of messy blonde hair and vibrant green eyes. She was small and had slight curves, and always wore baggy clothes. Briar was taller than both Cherise and Rhian and usually wore tight fitting clothes – not because she wanted to be provocative, but because that was what she was comfortable with.

Out of all of the seventh year Hufflepuffs, only three were purebloods. Jayce, Abram and Briar were purebloods; so was Cherise, but they didn't know who her parents were. Rhian was the only muggle-born, and Evan the only half-blood. They were a weird friend group, but they fit together.

"So, Cherise, how was your summer?" Evan asked her, and watched as she stabbed her fork into the macaroni that she'd grabbed from the bowls. Something about Cherise was that she rarely ate, and most everything she got was used as sacrifice. It wasn't harmful to her body, she was used to it. Headmistress Norse hadn't ever let Cherise have more food than the other children, much less the same.

"It was the same," she answered quietly, and smiled at her friend. He nodded, and continued to ask her more questions. The others, Jayce, Abram and Briar, had begun their own conversation and had taken to not acknowledging the conversation taking place, and Cherise was glad for that.

"Did anything interesting happen?"

Cherise shook her head, but stopped in the middle of it when she thought of the message Chiron had sent her. Evan, along with Rhian, had noticed this, and gave her curious looks. She sighed, knowing she'd have to explain herself now.

"Well, a member of my father's family tried contacting me the other day."

"Your father?"

Cherise scrunched her nose, uncomfortable with talking of her family. "Yes. I don't talk much of my family for a reason. It's very complicated and sad, and I prefer not to."

Her friends looked at each other, and her shoulders sagged slightly. This topic usually tired her out, even explaining everything to Albus took days.

"I know you don't like to, but we're curious. Who are your parents?" Rhian asked, patting Cherise's leg when she tensed slightly.

"My mother was a woman named Bella-Louise Lloyd, Lloyd being the last name my father gave her when they married. My father…" Cherise trails off, looking at the macaroni on her plate before pushing it around with her fork. "…I don't like to speak of him. He's plenty nice, but we haven't been allowed to speak to each other due to my uncle, but my uncle had good intentions."

Evan and Rhian nodded, and Evan raised a bushy eyebrow at her. "So, if you don't live with your father or mother, where do you live?"

Cherise flinched at the mention of homes and such, and they noticed this. Cherise suddenly became self-conscious to the amount of people around her, and hunched her shoulders to appear smaller. She hated this, this burning feeling of red-hot anxiety in her chest, burning her blood and organs. She didn't use to be this weak; she was able to fight monsters for crying out loud! Why does a conversation about her orphanage bother her so much?

"I, um, live in an orphanage outside of London," she answered, and when her friends sucked in breaths of air, she swallowed. "I've lived there since I was nine, and before that I lived at a camp owned by my uncle. The other kids-" she flinched at the thought of the other demigods, and the horrible things they would do to her "-they didn't like me so much. I lived at the camp for four years, and before that I lived with my father after my mother died."

Evan and Rhian, who both seemed shell-shocked with how open Cherise was being with her family and past, looked at her with wide eyes. Cherise set her fork down, suddenly not hungry anymore, and tapped the table twice. Her plates disappeared and she took slow and small sips of the water from her goblet.

"I'm sorry Cherry, you didn't have to. We're sorry for pushing-" Rhian starts out, but Cherise waves her off. Cherise rather liked the nickname, as the only other person who'd had one for her was her mother and father. And Cherry was likeable, it was cute.

"It's too late for apologies, Rhian, I've already spilled my guts," she laughed, her anxiety slowly leaving her as she hears the storms from outside. The ceiling had become darker, and exact image of the dark storm clouds rolling over them, the candles looking almost like stars in the dark replica.

Only five minutes later of silence between the three, the students were dismissed to find their dorms. Cherise though, was on her way to sit in the rain. She met Albus' eye, and the nodded at each other. He would cover for her, saying that she would be helping him with course work if anyone asked. She traveled with the students, but when no one was looking, she slipped from the halls and into a secret passageway she'd discovered her third year.

She walked the long dark and wet corridor of the passage, dimly lit by torches that never seem to go out. Her enhanced hearing picked up the scurrying of insects, rats and other living creatures and the dripping of water into puddles and the crackling of the torches that gave way to the exit. It took her ten anxious minutes to reach the outside, and another ten to reach her favorite spot to sit in the rain.

She was hit by the rain as soon as her feet hit the grass, and she relished in the coldness of it. Her worries seemed to melt away, and she only relaxed fully when she reached the place she'd been going to every year, the hill by the Whomping Willow. She laid in the grass, soaking her robes and getting mud all over her. She couldn't bring herself to care, and relished in the feeling of her godly magic washing away. Her demigod powers scared her, scared everyone, and she wanted to keep them hidden. There was no use for them anyway, out here in Scotland with Zeus' protection over her. She could hear the monsters sometimes still, outside of the barrier, waiting to be let in to devour her. They scared her less and less with each passing year, because she trusted her uncle to keep her safe.

There was a rumble of thunder, and Cherise knew that it was confirmation of her thoughts. He would keep her safe with every ounce of magic he had. Zeus had only the best in mind for her, she knew that. She couldn't help but be sour at the fact that he banned her father from seeing her, but she could not argue with the King of the Gods. What he says, goes, and there was nothing she could do about it. She'd rather live with it than fight it.

A few hours after midnight, when the rain had let up slightly, Cherise made her way back inside and snuck around to escape the caretaker, Carpe. He was not lenient on any student, punishing any student out of bed after curfew or when he caught them in the makings of a dumb idea. Usually, their punishments were to help him find ways to remove Peeves from Hogwarts, but the traps and plans never got far.

Cherise had to be wary of the prefects, too. Her house prefects were Rhian and Abram, the two stalked the halls, along with the rest of the prefects for students like her who roamed the halls. Cherise had many factors that helped her out in her sneaking, though. She had her hearing, her magic and her smell. They would never stand a chance.

But oh, how wrong she was.

"What are you doing out of bed?"


	4. four

Cherise froze, every single bone in her body seemed to lock up. How had she been caught? How had she not heard them, and why hadn't her magic alerted her to whoever it was? By the gods, she was going to faint. She hadn't experienced this in all of her years here, she made sure she got to her bed unnoticed.

"And, please, pray tell, why are you soaking wet?" the prefect asked, and Cherise turned around to be faced with the boy from the carriage ride. Now that she was looking at him, he was absolutely gorgeous. Sharp jawline, brown, fluffy hair, and brown eyes that gleamed with a look of superiority. He was tall, taller than Cherise by half a head, and was slightly broad shouldered.

It took a few seconds for Cherise to find her words. "I, um, was helping Professor Dumbledore with a few things."

The prefect only raised an eyebrow menacingly. "At two in the morning?"

Cherise winced. "Yes, we must have gone later than expected."

"And what would he be doing that required the help of a seventh year Hufflepuff?" he asked, and Cherise shuffled her feet. Her anxiety had caused the previously washed away magic to come back, and it was threatening to spill. She had to restrain herself from shadow traveling into the dorms, away from the beautiful boy who stood in front of her.

"He'd asked me to assist him in organizing his coursework for the lower years," Cherise spoke the lie, and the boy only stared at her. He was assessing her, that much she could tell, and he no doubt didn't believe her.

"Fine. If what you say is true, why don't we go pay the Professor a visit, hmm?" he asked, and Cherise only nodded. When he turned away to lead her, Cherise decided that one little use of her godly magic was alright, especially in a situation such as this. She tapped her foot lightly on the floor, and a black hole appeared on the ground, following her as she walked behind the prefect. She projected her message to the skeleton waiting for orders, and the hole vanished to Albus' office in a silent snap.

She cursed herself, using the magic she'd tried for so long to suppress. How could she be so weak? She hated it, especially because of Camp. She'd used magic she hated, and she broke the promise to herself. She wasn't going to be weak again, she would do everything in her power, her witch power, to remain closed off from her demigod nature.

They'd arrived at Albus' office only five minutes later, and the prefect, turned to eye Cherise once more before knocking on the pristine door. It opened only seconds later, and Albus looked at the two in surprise. He was wearing his robes from earlier, thank the gods, and he only looked as if he'd been working, which he probably had.

He'd received Cherise's message, and he was going to scold her for it, but he'd deal with the situation presented to him. "Oh, Cherise? I thought I just sent you to bed. And hello, Tom, how are you?"

_This_ was Tom Riddle? Cherise screamed inside her head, and the boy gave her a half-smirk, almost as if he read her thoughts. He's probably a Legilimens, or had at least practiced the art. She quickly threw up her mind shields, and received and intrigued look Tom. They weren't the same as Occlumency shields, but they worked nonetheless.

"Yes, hello Professor. I am doing perfectly fine. I'd found Ms. Lloyd here in the halls and she'd said she was helping you. I only came to make sure that was true," Tom answered, and Cherise believed his voice was made of pure velvet.

Albus gave one of his smiles, and Tom gave him a tight one back. "Well, it was true. Now, I actually do need some help on a few other things, Cherise. Do you mind?"

Cherise goes to shake her head, but Tom speaks before she can. "Isn't it inappropriate to have a student in your office this late? Surely Ms. Lloyd should return to bed."

Albus and Cherise lock eyes, and Cherise can't help but laugh silently at the position Albus had found himself in. "You seem to have the wrong idea, Tom. Cherise is my daughter."

Cherise flinched at the word, and her 'father' sent her an apologetic glance. It was the only way to save themselves from the enigma of Tom Riddle, and it would work. The shock on his face was evident, and he looked at Cherise for clarification.

She cleared her throat, ready to explain. "He's my wizarding guardian until I'm allowed to see my father again. But, his status doesn't work in the muggle world, so I'm left at an orphanage every summer." Her voice was quiet, and when it went silent, she looked up into the eyes of the beautiful Tom Riddle, and he was looking at her with a look of shock and sympathy.

Why would he sympathize with her? From what she'd heard, this boy had had a perfect life. She almost scolded herself for believing in silly rumors, she hadn't known anything about the boy. She shouldn't obtain knowledge of someone through gossip, more often than not it was false anyway.

"I do apologize," Tom began, his eyes not leaving Cherise, causing her cheeks to heat and her eyes to avert to her old shoes. "I hadn't meant to pry into private matters. Would you like me to escort you to your common room?"

"I, um," she looked at Albus, and he gave a subtle shake of his head, indicating he didn't need her any longer. She knew he only wanted to scold her for using her godly magic, especially in the school. He could scold her tomorrow. "yes, please."

Tom Riddle nodded, and he gave a nod in Albus' direction before beginning to walk off. Cherise gave Albus a smile along with a 'goodnight' and followed after the prefect, wary of Albus' eyes on her until they turned a corner and were out of his eyesight.

Cherise's body tingled, the after effects of using her godly magic, and she felt extremely cold. That was normal, her father was the Lord of the Underworld after all, she was used to cold. She was still wet, so she had the appearance of a soaked cat, dripping water everywhere and leaving a trail for the caretaker to clean.

"Oh, yes," she hears from Tom, who's stopped in the middle of the hall, and she looks over as he waves his wand. She feels a sudden warmth, and a few seconds later she's dry again. Her hair was tangled and knotted, but that came with being curly, and her robes were warm again. She brushed her hair back, and sent a smile to the prefect.

"Thank you."

Tom stares at her for a moment, simply staring, and gives her a nod before her continues walking. She follows after him, walking next to him, in silence. The sound of their footsteps is the only sound around, beside the rain coming heavily from outside. Cherise looks wishfully outside, she wishes she could be out there again. Now that she's broken her 'no godly magic streak' she's feeling all sorts of power and magic and she itches to relieve herself of it. Maybe it isn't so bad that she's using her magic again?

Cherise looks out of the passing windows, out into the easing rain. It's coming down less and less, she thought, it's probably best that I left when I did. For a fleeting piece of comfort, she glances to the shield only she could see in between the windows they passed. She stopped in her place with a squeak of her shoes, her eyes wide. She took two large and quick strides and stared at the shield in absolute horror.

"Ms. Lloyd?" she hears from behind her, faux concern laced within his alluring voice. She knew fake concern when she heard it, after listening to everyone pretend to care about her. She liked to think of herself as an expert. "Are you quite alright?"

She raised a hand to her mouth to stop whatever sounds were trying to escape her. How could this have happened? How could Zeus allow this? Albus. She needed Albus. But, suddenly, she couldn't move, only stare at the shield nightmarishly.

The shield was flickering.

"By the gods," she whispered to herself, unaware of the curious stare of one Tom Riddle. She'd almost forgotten him, if she was being honest. "I have to…I…" she took a few scared steps away from the window, and finally let her eyes fall on the handsome figure of the mysterious Tom Riddle. "Please, excuse me."

And with that, she fled back to Albus' office.


	5. five

The next time Cherise saw Tom Riddle was three days after their original encounter. Because their houses were so well acquainted with each other, Dippet saw it as unneeded to have many classes with houses on good terms. Unluckily, it was Transfiguration, but this was to be her last class of the day, so there was an upside.

"Good day, class! Today we'll be identifying the difference in difficulty between turning animals into cups and turning objects into cups. Now, turn to page 334 and…"

Cherise blanked after that, and her eyes flicked to the still-flickering shield. She's done every ounce of praying she could, even asked for a bigger plate for sacrifices, but the shield has been still been flickering between working and not. She's heard the roars of the beasts that lurk outside of them, and their footfalls that echo in the forest.

"Cherise?" she hears Albus call, and she looks up at the man, only to find him staring at her, along with the rest of the class. A pang of anxiety hits her and her magic flares, the shadows becoming increasingly larger. Albus notices this and his gaze turns worried. "Never mind, please see me after class."

Cherise can only nod and sink lower in her chair. Class continues, and the stares of witches turn back to the Professor as he describes the different spells for Transfiguration. Cherise stares at him as well, and she tenses when she sees Tom Riddle almost glaring at her. She gulped, what had she done? He was known to be curious, maybe her fleeing act three days ago made him suddenly hate her? Whatever it was, Cherise know she didn't deserve it.

Class was soon over and she packed her things slowly as Albus approached her. People had left, and Cherise noticed the only one still here was Tom, but he was already out of the door before Albus began to speak.

"Cherise, what's going on?" he asked, and Cherise felt a lump in her throat. "I know you're worried, but this is only going to draw attention to you."

"I'm not worried, Albus," she started, her voice shaking as she tilted her head to peer at her surrogate father's wrinkly face. "I'm scared, I'm bloody terrified. I can hear them, the monsters, outside of the barrier, howling, roaring and running. I can hear them cursing my name and my father's. I can hear them making plans; they've seen the flicker too. They are thirsty for my blood, Albus, and I can't do anything about it. I can only wait until the day I have to kill once more."

It is silent after her small speech, and the two only stare at each other solemnly. He sighs and rubs his tired old eyes, and Cherise digs her nails into her palm. The shadows became intensified once more, and Albus shot her a look. This was nerve racking, especially because Zeus was ghosting her. This only ends in one way, bloodshed, and it was up to her to find out who's blood was going to splatter.

"Well, your magic has been released, as I can see. I know you haven't used it in a while, but it would probably be in your best interest to practice using them again. If you don't, it will flare when you feel sudden emotions and harm people," he says, and the flinch she gives at the prospect of hurting others with her magic makes him falter in his words.

"I didn't mean it that way, Cherise. Any child of any god's magic will flare when emotions are mixed into the equation. But since you're the child of one of the Big Three, as you call them, yours is ultimately more dangerous. I'm not trying to belittle you like your ex-Campers, I'm only trying to be honest with you. Using magic amateurly will only cause harm for everyone."

Cherise nods, and relaxes her fist. "Okay, alright. I'll start practicing again."

"Do you still have your swords from Camp, or do I need to send word to Chiron?"

"N-no, I…I have them. I…I need to get to the Great Hall." Cherise grabbed her bag and papers, and scurried to the door. There was a strange sound outside, like the scuffling of shoes, but she played it off as first years running to the Hall. She opened the door and quickly left her fatherly figure to worry by himself.

Cherise didn't want to say she was ignoring her friends, but she was. She couldn't bring them into this, she couldn't bring anyone from Hogwarts into this. It wasn't fair to them, innocent children being caught up in godly affairs? Especially when they all believed the Greek gods didn't exist?

Dippet gave his usual small speech before waving his hands and allowing the students to begin eating, and Cherise eyed the food in front of her. Zeus had liked the pudding, along with most of the fruits and sweets. She'd give him that, to try to appease him enough to keep the barrier up. She piled the desserts onto the silver plate and stalked to the fireplace. It seems that more people were watching her than normal, and she could hear whispers about her throughout the Hall.

She shook them off and prayed to her Uncle before sliding the food into the fire and watching it light in recognition of her sacrifice before dragging her feet back to her seat. The plate disappeared once it hit the table, and she began to nibble on the beef she'd picked out for herself. She caught her friends staring at her, as they usually did whenever she was silent during meals and such, and she gave them a fake smile before dipping her head down to continue to try to eat.

As she thought, it became more evident that she needed to leave Hogwarts as soon as possible. It wasn't fair to the students and it wasn't fair to Albus. They didn't deserve this, this was all Cherise's problem. Plus, it would out the demigods to the witches, seeing as the Mist doesn't work on any type of magical creature.

With her mind made up, she stood from her seat and walked briskly out of the Great Hall, the eyes of every student and teacher on her. So lost in her own mind, she almost didn't hear the echo of footsteps behind her, and she whipped around. Albus stood worriedly at the end of the hall, Cherise almost at the other end.

"Cherise, what are you doing?" he asks, and Cherise takes a deep breath before explaining herself.

"I have to go back to Camp, I can't let my blood be the reason everyone is put in danger," she answers, and Albus begins to walk toward her, reaching her in only a minute or so. He sighs and wraps his arms around her, providing the comfort she didn't know she needed.

"Why would you want to go back? After everything that's happened?"

"I would happily be tortured like I was over and over than be the cause for hurting the innocents here, Albus. There's no doubt about it."

Albus stepped back slightly from her, scrutinizing her in a fatherly way. Cherise's heart ached in that moment for her actual father to be here, telling her that everything would be alright. But Zeus had stripped that right away from her. Thunder and lightning flashed and echoed from outside, and Cherise only rolled her eyes. Zeus deserved every bit of Cherise's anger, especially after he broke his promise of keeping the shield up until she graduated.

"Stay here, Cherise. I'll talk to Chiron about wards and such for Hogwarts, but you shouldn't have to leave. Go outside, it will rain soon," was all he said in reply before turning and heading to gods know where. Cherise huffed after him, annoyed with her fatherly-figure. He was acting strange than usual by trying to coop her up her in Hogwarts.

Nevertheless, she followed his instruction and shadow-traveled outside. Magic coursed through her veins, warming her blood and heightening her senses. She sat on the hill below the Whomping Willow crisscross and waited for the rain to wash over her and cleanse her of whatever she was feeling.


End file.
